Folk Tales Every Child Should Know eBook

So the poor brother got both the money and the quern,
and it wasn’t long before he set up a farmhouse
far finer than the one in which his brother lived,
and with the quern he ground so much gold that he covered
it with plates of gold; and as the farm lay by the
sea-side, the golden house gleamed and glistened far
away over the sea. All who sailed by, put ashore
to see the rich man in the golden house, and to see
the wonderful quern, the fame of which spread far
and wide, till there was nobody who hadn’t heard
tell of it.

So one day there came a skipper who wanted to see
the quern; and the first thing he asked was if it
could grind salt.

“Grind salt!” said the owner; “I
should just think it could. It can grind anything.”

When the skipper heard that, he said he must have
the quern, cost what it would; for if he only had
it, he thought he should be rid of his long voyages
across stormy seas for a lading of salt. Well,
at first the man wouldn’t hear of parting with
the quern; but the skipper begged and prayed so hard
that at last he let him have it, but he had to pay
many, many thousand dollars for it. Now, when
the skipper had got the quern on his back, he soon
made off with it, for he was afraid lest the man should
change his mind; so he had no time to ask how to handle
the quern, but got on board his ship as fast as he
could, and set sail. When he had sailed a good
way off, he brought the quern on deck and said:

“Grind salt, and grind both good and fast.”

Well, the quern began to grind salt so that it poured
out like water; and when the skipper had got the ship
full, he wished to stop the quern, but whichever way
he turned it, and however much he tried, it was no
good; the quern kept grinding on, and the heap of salt
grew higher and higher, and at last down sunk the
ship.

There lies the quern at the bottom of the sea, and
grinds away at this very day, and that’s why
the sea is salt.

III

THE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND

Once on a time there was an old widow who had one
son and, as she was poorly and weak, her son had to
go up into the safe to fetch meal for cooking; but
when he got outside the safe, and was just going down
the steps, there came the North Wind, puffing and
blowing, caught up the meal, and so away with it through
the air. Then the lad went back into the safe
for more; but when he came out again on the steps,
if the North Wind didn’t come again and carry
off the meal with a puff; and more than that, he did
so the third time. At this the lad got very angry;
and as he thought it hard that the North Wind should
behave so, he thought he’d just look him up,
and ask him to give up his meal.

So off he went, but the way was long, and he walked
and walked; but at last he came to the North Wind’s
house.

“Good day!” said the lad, and “thank
you for coming to see us yesterday.”